Background
In Fall 2022, the Office of Local and Regional Health (OLRH) conducted a Capacity Assessment of 305 municipalities participating in the Public Health Excellence Shared Services Grant Program to evaluate their ability to provide the basic public health services based on their available resources. The first-ever Massachusetts Performance Standards for Local Public Health, which define basic levels of services as mandated by state statute and regulation, as well as workforce credentials and training, framed the assessment. As part of this assessment, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) conducted a qualitative review of inspectional documentation submitted by municipalities to evaluate the implementation of mandated public health services. The following documentation types were reviewed:
- Bathing Beaches (PDF) | (DOCX)
- Family Type Campgrounds (PDF) | (DOCX)
- Food Protection (PDF) | (DOCX)
- Housing (PDF) | (DOCX)
- Nuisances (PDF) | (DOCX)
- Recreational Camps for Children (PDF) | (DOCX)
- Swimming Pools (PDF) | (DOCX)
- Tanning (PDF) | (DOCX)
- Tobacco Use Prevention (PDF) | (DOCX)
A group of 10 geographically diverse SMEs, each with at least 25 years of experience in local public health, reviewed the 5,500+ submitted documents using the established evaluation criteria.
Goals of the Capacity Assessment Document Review Findings
The aim of sharing the Capacity Assessment Document Review Findings is to serve as a practical tool to help municipalities understand the most common reasons why their inspection-related backup documents did not meet the standards. Additionally, these Review Findings are a valuable resource for municipalities that participated in the Capacity Assessment, and those who would like to self-assess their inspection-related documents.
Capacity Assessment Review Findings Structure
Each documentation type (e.g., Food Protection) has its own Review Findings document. The first page outlines the areas of opportunity that the SMEs identified for each subject area. The second page includes a graph illustrating the number of submitted backup documents that met the determined criteria. The rest of the second page and any subsequent pages include the most frequently reported reasons for not meeting the evaluation criteria from the backup documentation review, ordered by frequency, emphasizing the most common issues identified among the municipalities that submitted documentation during the Capacity Assessment.